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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28723797">Closing time cookies</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/nizzie/pseuds/nizzie'>nizzie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Jared - Freeform, Lieu - Freeform, nizzie12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:34:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>826</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28723797</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/nizzie/pseuds/nizzie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared's trying to close up after another long hard night of bartending at the Hide Out. When he's about to call it a night, a mysterious new person he's never seen before make a last-minute stop.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jared/Lieu</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Closing time cookies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun was about to rise, bringing another long night at the Hide Out to an end. The patrons already left to their rooms below the bar for the day, leaving Jared alone to clean up the aftermath from the rowdy guests. Cleaning tables, picking up chairs and pulling knives from the walls that were previously thrown across the room from one drunkard to the other. The usual closing route that he’d done so many mornings before. </p><p>	He was standing behind the bar, wiping down the counter and whistling a tune to fill the silence in the room. His song was cut short as a sound caught his attention, the front door opening. He figured it was a late guest who lost track of time out in the valley, but his eyes caught sight of someone unfamiliar. A lady who’d he’d never seen before cautiously came walking in, she didn’t seem to notice the redhead behind the bar watching her. </p><p> </p><p>	“Hey?” He finally cut the silence and he knew from the way she jumped that he startled her, ”Sorry but we’re closed for the day.”</p><p>	The girl looked a little distraught by the news. Judging by her appearance she looked human and lost, so Jared figured he’d cut her some slack, “If you take a seat I wouldn’t mind opening the kitchen up and cooking you something. You look like you traveled too far for me to refuse you a hot meal.”</p><p>	The gesture seemed to lighten the girl’s mood tremendously and she took a seat at the bar, “I’m sorry to come in just as your closing. Guess I’m that asshole huh?” She had a very friendly demeanor, something Jared didn’t see often, and it was like a breath of fresh air.</p><p>	“It’s really no trouble at all. So what can I get for you? Eggs? Bacon? We might have cereal hidden in a cabinet if the mice didn’t find it yet.” Jared leaned on the counter in front of her, putting on his most welcoming smile.</p><p>	The girl looked down almost seeming almost embarrassed with her answer, “Uh…. Actually, do you know how to make cookies..?” She glanced up at him with a desperate look that told him that she was being completely serious.</p><p>	He gave her a strange look but didn’t question it and his usual friendly grin grew back on his lips, “Of course I do! I don’t get many people ordering anything outside of deer scraps and burgers so I might be a bit rusty. Just stay right here, don’t move.” and before she could respond, the bartender was zooming around the corner into the kitchen.</p><p>	The girl just sat there in silence, her eyes observing the little bar she found herself residing in. She noticed an unusual amount of bloodstains in just about every corner and tried not to concern herself with the box set behind the bar labeled “Knife Lost-and-found” which had a vast collection of blades inside. It had taken her all night to finally reach Slough Creek Valley, and if some cutie behind the counter was willing to bake her cookies, she was willing to risk being in this dodgy establishment. </p><p>	After a series of clangs, bangs, and minor swearing, Jared came back around the corner holding a platter of steaming chocolate chip cookies in one hand. He so gracefully walked over and set the platter down in front of her. The sheer excitement that appeared on the girl’s face was unlike anything Jared had ever seen before. She was a little *too* excited about the sweet treats, but it brought him great joy to see her so happy, so was well worth the trouble he went through baking them.</p><p>	The girl picked up a cookie and admired it as if it were diamonds before shoving it into her mouth and chomping down on it. Her joyful expression slowly morphed to confusion as something seemed to be off. She flipped the cookie over to see the bottom, only to find it black and burnt.</p><p>	Jared scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously “Yeah… I got a tendency to burn things… Sorry if they’re inedible.”</p><p>	The girl kept looking at the cookie more before she shrugged and shove the rest of it in her mouth happy as ever and said with a mouthful, “All cookies are good cookies.”</p><p>	Her smile was contagious and Jared found himself smiling just watching her eat his sub-par cookies. He took a cookie for himself, having no issue with eating burnt food, and thought it was time to know who this cooking-loving-lady was, “I’m Jared by the way.”</p><p>	The girl was in the middle of shoving two more cookies down her throat simultaneously and paused, setting the cookies down and going in for a handshake. When he took her hand and they exchanged a solid handshake she gave him a smile that made his heart skip a beat, “Call me Lieu.”</p>
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